Notre Dame’s 2016 schedule shapes up similarly to the 2015 rendition. The Irish visit Texas in the opener in the back half of the home-and-home series. Standard matchups with Stanford and USC await, while Notre Dame trades one 2015 playoff team for another with Michigan State—not Clemson—on the early-season docket in 2016. The Irish also have intriguing ACC tilts against storied programs in Miami and Virginia Tech.

The Cardinal check in at No. 8 in ESPN’s early Top 25, one spot ahead of the Irish. The Spartans, who lose quarterback Connor Cook and defensive end Shilique Calhoun, among others, are slotted 14th. The quarterback job is also up for grabs at USC, where Clay Helton will need a replacement for Cody Kessler in his first full season as the head man of the Trojans. USC is pegged 16th.

As is the norm at Notre Dame, the Irish will play in three different NFL stadiums during the 2016 regular season.

Notre Dame and Syracuse clash at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, at the beginning of October. The aforementioned Navy-Notre Dame rivalry game kicks off (early) at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Florida.

And don’t expect much trouble for the Irish in the annual Shamrock Series game, which pits Notre Dame against Army at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

Texas turned in a 5-7 campaign in the first year of the Charlie Strong era, but the Longhorns inked 24 commits—good for the nation’s 11th-best class of 2016.

Former Irish assistant coach Brian Polian spent five seasons in South Bend under Charlie Weis and will direct his Nevada club into Indiana in Week 2.

Duke, meanwhile, announced Tuesday morning that redshirt senior quarterback Thomas Sirk suffered a ruptured left Achilles tendon and will be out indefinitely following surgery that was scheduled Wednesday. Sirk completed 59 percent of his passes for 2,625 yards and 16 touchdowns to go along with a team-best 803 rushing yards and eight scores in 2015.

Dino Babers (Syracuse), Mark Richt (Miami), Justin Fuente (Virginia Tech) and Clay Helton (USC) will all be in their first full seasons as head coaches of their respective programs.

All quotes were obtained firsthand and all stats courtesy of CFBStats.com unless otherwise noted.

Mike Monaco is the lead Notre Dame writer for Bleacher Report. Follow @MikeMonaco_ on Twitter.